Known in the prior art are apparatuses for varying the direction of travel of a water-borne vehicle, especially a watercraft, preferably a yacht. These apparatuses comprise rotatable means, or steering wheel which can be operated by the vehicle driver, in particular by gripping, to vary the vehicle's direction of travel, and supporting means, or hub for rotatably supporting the rotatable means, or steering wheel and which have a respective longitudinal axis and are connected fixedly to the vehicle, in particular to the dashboard of the water-borne vehicle.
In these prior art apparatuses for varying the direction of travel of a water-borne vehicle, the supporting means, or hub for rotatably supporting the rotatable means, or steering wheel have transfer means for transferring the movement of the rotatable means, or steering wheel to corresponding means for controlling the vehicle's direction of travel, defined for example by the rudder of the water-borne vehicle, in particular through the agency of corresponding transmission means, preferably comprising a respective rotary shaft.
However, in the prior art apparatuses for varying the direction of travel of a water-borne vehicle, the steering wheel or helm must be turned several times to obtain only very minor angular movements of the rudder in order to vary the direction of travel of the water-borne vehicle. As a result, it is awkward or difficult for the driver of the water-borne vehicle to operate the means for changing the vehicle's direction of travel.
Also known in the prior art are apparatuses for changing the direction of travel of a water-borne vehicle which comprise a fixed, central part and which are provided with a gear system in which the input and output shafts are offset from each other. In these prior art apparatuses, the transmission ratio between the steering wheel and the rotary shaft for transmission to the rudder is thus modified compared to that of the constructor's original design, with the disadvantage that, in a water-borne vehicle equipped with this gear system, which, moreover, is complex and difficult to make and install, operation of the means for changing the direction of travel is relatively ineffective.
Also known in the prior art are apparatuses for changing the direction of travel of a water-borne vehicle which use one or more planetary gear systems. These planetary gear systems, however, occupy an excessive amount of space and are complex and difficult to make and install.
In this field, therefore, there continues to be a need for an apparatus for changing the direction of travel of a vehicle, in particular a water-borne vehicle, which is particularly simple in configuration, easy to assemble and/or particularly effective to use.